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Show EMPEROR FRANCIS JOSEPH IS EIGHTY Emepror Franci6 Joseph of Austria was 80 years old on Thursday. He has ruled his people for sixty-two years. Francis Joseph I, emperor of Austria Aus-tria and king of Hungary, was born August 18, 1830, as the eldest son of the Archduke Francis Charles and Princess Sophie of Bavaria. His early education was under the control of his mother. Count Coronini and Count Henry Bombelles. From his earliest youth he has been a devout and consistent con-sistent Catholic. Francis Joseph is noted for his excellent ex-cellent memory and linguistic ability, both of which faculties were cultivated culti-vated to a high degree under the tutelage tute-lage of Cardinal Rauscher. The vast experience that a life. of 80 years can give has strengthened his character and his judgment. The future emperor was declared of age in 184 8. On the 2d of . September of that year, after the abdication of Emperor Ferdinand and after his brother, Archduke Francis Charles, had given up his rights to the succession, succes-sion, Francis Joseph became emperor of Austria. The same year brought the revolution in Hungary. The Catholic education of Emperor Francis Joseph chiefly displayed itself in 1855, when he signed the famous Concordat with the Pope. 1859-1866 brought unlucky wars abroad, but peace in the interior with Hungary, and on the 8th of June, 1867, Francis Joseph was at last crowned king of Hungary in Budapest. One of the most remarkable events of his reign .was the signing of the triple alliance in 1879, the promoter of which was a Hungarian, Count An-drassy. An-drassy. This triple alliance between Austria-Hungary, Germany and Italy is still in existence and is one of the strongest bulwarks of peace in the world. One year before, 1878, Bosia and Herczegovlna had been occupied. The Austrian emperor has had many misfortunes In his private life, his wife, the Empress and Queen Elizabeth, Eli-zabeth, having been killed in Geneva, while the tragedy of the death of his son. the Criwn Prince Rudolf, at May-erling, May-erling, "remains one of the unsolved mysteries of history. He has always entertained warm friendship with the United States and American people, as was seen on the occasion of the late visit of Theodore Roosevelt. Arch-ruke Arch-ruke Francis Ferdinand, nephew, is successor to the throne, and while there is nothing positively known about his . politics in general, he is unanimously reported to be a staunch Catholic. |
